Across all species, critical skills are passed on from parents to offspring through communication. Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the Researchers at the University of Bonn showed that effective communication relies on how both the sender and receiver represent information. Their study reveals how this process underlies training efficacy and task performance. Their results have been published in the journal "Nature Communications".

Innovations such as a chatbot that talks to patients while recording medical data or a new test procedure for genetic defects in infertile men are being funded by the Transfer Center enaCom in the 5th round of prototyping grants. Two teams of scientists from the University of Bonn and the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) are developing innovative prototypes for practical challenges of our time. The findings from the research are prepared for planned commercialization with the prototyping grants. The grants with a funding amount of up to €50,000 are regularly announced by the Transfer Center. Applications for a final funding round in 2024 can still be submitted until 15.09.2024.

From infancy and usually for life, some families suffer from broken hair due to a congenital form of hair loss called monilethrix. Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn and the University of Bonn have now identified causative mutations in another keratin gene, KRT31. They hope that this will improve the diagnosis of this rare disease. Their results have now been published in the renowned "British Journal of Dermatology".

Nerve cells in the brain receive thousands of synaptic signals via their "antenna", the so-called dendritic branch. Permanent changes in synaptic strength correlate with changes in the size of dendritic spines. However, it was previously unclear how the neurons implement these changes in strength across several synapses that are close to each other and active at the same time. Researchers from the University Hospital Bonn (UKB), the University of Bonn, the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) and the RIKEN Center for Brain Science (CBS) assume that the competition between spines for molecular resources and the spatial distance between simultaneously stimulated spines affect their resulting dynamics. The results of the study have now been published in the journal "Nature Communications".

CRISPR gene scissors, as new tools of molecular biology, have their origin in an ancient bacterial immune system. But once a virus attack has been successfully overcome, the cell has to recover. Researchers from the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn, in cooperation with researchers from the Institut Pasteur in France, have discovered a timer integrated into the gene scissors that enables the gene scissors to switch themselves off. The results of the study have been published in the renowned journal "Nucleic Acids Research".

A low-dose long-term administration of cannabis can not only reverse aging processes in the brain, but also has an anti-aging effect. Researchers from the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn together with a team from Hebrew University (Israel) have now been able to show this in mice. They found the key to this in the protein switch mTOR, whose signal strength has an influence on cognitive performance and metabolic processes in the entire organism. The results are now presented in the journal "ACS Pharmacology & Translation Science".

The University Election Assembly of the University of Bonn has elected five female Vice-Rectors and one male Vice-Rector. This completes the team with which Rector Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Michael Hoch will start his third term of office in May 2025. Vice-Rectors are part-time and form the Rectorate together with the Rector and Provost Holger Gottschalk.

Food in hospitals often does not enjoy a good reputation. The proportion of meat on the plate in particular is too high and often does not meet the recommendations of the German Nutrition Society (DGE), which advocates a more plant-based diet in hospitals (in German). Clinics can do a lot to motivate patients to choose a healthier menu, as two new studies by Bonn University Hospital (UKB) and the University of Bonn show. Around 2,000 people took part. The results can now serve as a basis for decision-makers in hospitals to make culinary changes. The results of the study will be published in the current August issue of the “Journal of Environmental Psychology”.